Lizzie Velasquez Biography
Lizzie Velasquez born as Elizabeth Anne Velásquez, is an American motivational speaker, activist, author, and YouTuber. She was born with an extremely rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome that, among other symptoms, prevents her from accumulating body fat and gaining weight.
Her conditions resulted in bullying during her childhood. Throughout her teenage years, she faced cyberbullying, which ultimately inspired her to take up motivational speaking.
Lizzie Velasquez Age
The American motivational speaker and was born on 13th March 1989 in Austin, Texas, United States.
Lizzie Velasquez Height
She stands at a height of 5 feet 2 inches taller.
Lizzie Velasquez Parents|Siblings
Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” Velásquez was born on March 13, 1989, in Austin, Texas, the U.S. to parents Rita and Guadalupe Velásquez. Born four weeks prematurely, she was quite weak at birth, weighing just over a kilo. She has two younger siblings, Marina and Chris.
She was born with a rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome caused by mutations in the FBN1 gene. The disease is characterized by several symptoms, including a weakened immune system and the inability to gain weight.
Additionally, Lizzie also suffers from vision impairment. Owing to her medical conditions which make her look different from others her age, she faced rampant bullying as a young girl. However, with the loving support of her family and friends, she was able to grow up into a confident young woman. As of today, she is a successful motivational speaker, author, social media personality, and a dedicated anti-bullying crusader.
Lizzie Velasquez Youtube
Lizzie Velásquez was constantly bullied throughout her school days owing to her appearance. When she was a teenager, she came across a video on YouTube which featured an unauthorized photograph of her with the caption the “World’s Ugliest Woman.” The year was 2006 and Lizzie was just 17 years old at that time. Watching the video shattered her self-confidence and she couldn’t stop crying for a long time. This incident inspired her to become a motivational speaker.
In February 2008, she created her self-titled YouTube channel in which she started posting videos promoting the anti-bullying message. With time her videos became quite popular and she received encouraging comments from the viewers who also shared their own stories of being bullied with her. On realizing that she had the power to positively impact the lives of others, she decided to become a motivational speaker.
Lizzie Velasquez Ted Talk
To pursue her dream, she went to Texas State University and majored in communication studies. As a victim of cyber-bullying herself, she was able to connect easily with the other victims of bullying and was soon able to establish herself as a much sought-after motivational speaker. In January 2014, she gave a TEDxAustinWomen Talk titled “How Do YOU Define Yourself” which went viral and made her famous all over the globe. Already a well-known YouTuber by now, she gained even more prominence which motivated her to do more for the anti-bullying cause.
Following the success of her TEDxAustinWomen Talk, Lizzie was contacted by producer Sara Hirsh Bordo to work on a documentary on her life. Lizzie agreed to serve as an Executive Producer of the documentary called ‘A BRAVE HEART: The Lizzie Velasquez Story’ which followed the journey of her life from being a victim of bullying to an anti-bullying crusader. The critically acclaimed film received an Academy-qualifying release in the U.S in 2015.
Lizzie Velasquez Books
Lizzie Velásquez is also an author, with the books ‘Lizzie Beautiful: The Lizzie Velásquez Story’ (2010), ‘Be Beautiful, Be You’ (2012), and ‘Choosing Happiness’ (2014) to her credit. Her latest book, ‘Dare to Be Kind: How Extraordinary Compassion Can Transform Our World’ was released in 2017. Recently she also began starring on the new show ‘Unzipped’ which is available via the Fullscreen app.
Lizzie Velasquez Condition
Velásquez’s condition is very rare, previously undiagnosed and non-terminal genetic disorder. Her condition bears similarities to many other conditions, especially progeria. Medical researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center previously speculated that it may be a form of a neonatal progeroid syndrome (NPS) (Wiedemann-Rautenstrauch syndrome), which does not affect Velásquez’s healthy bones, organs, and teeth.
Velásquez is medically unable to gain weight, which is a hallmark of her rare disorder. She has never weighed more than 29 kg (64 lbs) and reportedly has almost 0% body fat. Moreover, she is required to eat many small meals and snacks throughout the day, averaging between 5,000 and 8,000 calories daily. Additionally, she is blind in her right eye, which began to cloud over when she was 4, and she is vision-impaired in her left eye.
Around 2015, it was elucidated that Lizzie Velasquez and another woman named Abby Solomon with a similar but less severe variant of the condition have mutations in the FBN1 gene, which encodes the proprotein of the novel hormone asprosin, and that this mutation results in asprosin deficiency and is responsible for their conditions. The condition is specifically called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome or simply Marfan lipodystrophy syndrome.
Lizzie Velasquez Husband
In 2015, rumors surfaced around the internet that Lizzie was engaged to her fiance. The gossips had started after she was seen wearing a gold ring in her ring finger.
However, she immediately put a stop to the rumors herself clarifying that she had kept the ring since she was 15 in the ring finger as it didn’t fit in any other finger. So it seems, she isn’t getting settled with a husband any sooner.
But, she did date twice during her college years with an ex-boyfriend, whom she refers to as Blake.
Lizzie Velasquez A Champion For Change
Lizzie went on to host a social media challenge for National Bullying Prevention Month in 2015. She became an author when her autobiography was published in 2010 and was titled Lizzie Beautiful: The Lizzie Velasquez Story. It was co-authored by her mother and also contains some stories by her mother which told some personal tales of raising Lizzie.
She then went on to publish another book called Be Beautiful, Be You in 2012 which was written to inspire the youth to discover what makes them beautiful. She wrote about how the media tries to dictate what is beautiful to the youth. Instead of trying to see the true value of people and what makes them great people, the media wants to push pre-selected images so that they can sell their products and services. Lizzie was a great person to give this message to the youth.
Her book, Choosing Happiness was published in 2014 and talks about the problems she had to face throughout her life. On March 14, 2015, a documentary showing her life premiered and was titled A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story.
Lizzie Velasquez Victim Of Bullying
Velasquez’s condition came to public knowledge when she was subjected to cyberbullying. Sadly, a YouTube video declaring her as the ugliest woman in the world surfaced and started becoming viral on the internet. Due to the cyberbullying and the physical bullying she endured as a kid, she decided to pursue motivational speaking. She wanted to fight back against her oppressors instead of becoming a defenseless victim. It wasn’t her fault that she got her medical condition.
She didn’t decide that she would come into this world with a condition that only a few people have had in the history of civilization. Even though the condition leaves her with some physical deformities that most people would find undesirable, she wanted to make the most of her situation. Her bravery has been praised by many people because she showed that as long as you try, you can find positives in anything. Instead of becoming a champion for people with medical conditions, she could have quit and drowned herself in misery but she chose a different path. She was a very rare case and that made her special.
She appeared on the famous lecture show, TED Talks which helps in sharing speeches that spread new ideas to intellectuals and the general public. The program is very famous for having seats that are very expensive and only the very highest levels of scholars and influencers get invited. They are well respected because they are not afraid to cover any topic. They will feature many topics that mainstream academia tries to distance itself from. They have had on speakers that present information about things like psychedelics, meditation, and why capitalism is holding us back in modern society. Ted Talks also features very interesting and unique people that can share stories with their audience that can’t be found anywhere else. They were very honored to have Lizzie share her story on their stage and platform.
On December 5, 2013, Lizzie began her speech by saying that it was just seventeen when the YouTube video declaring her as “The World’s Ugliest Woman” surfaced on the internet. In the Ted Talks series, she went on explaining how that one video changed her life. Velasquez along with the support from her parents has been brave enough to fight back and inspire those who have been bullied in their lives
Lizzie Velasquez Awards
- Austin Film Critics Association 2015
- Austin Film Award Sara Hirsh Bordo
- Bentonville Film Festival 2015
- Spirit Award Sara Hirsh Bordo (director)
- Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US 2016
- Cinema Eye Honors Award The Unforgettables
- Lizzie Velasquez
- Imagen Foundation Awards 2017
- Imagen Award Best Documentary
- Lower East Side Film Festival 2015
Winner - Audience Award Audience Award
Sara Hirsh Bordo - Newport Beach Film Festival 2015
- Audience Award Documentary
- Sara Hirsh Bordo
- Women Rising
- SXSW Film Festival 2015
- Audience Award Documentary Spotlight
- Sara Hirsh Bordo
- SXSW Gamechanger Award Sara Hirsh Bordo
- Traverse City Film Festival 2015
- Audience Award Best Documentary Film
- Sara Hirsh Bordo
Lizzie Velasquez A Brave Heart
The Lizzie Velasquez Story is a documentary following the inspiring journey of 26 years old, 58 pound Lizzie from cyber-bullying victim to anti-bullying activist. Born with a rare syndrome that prevents her from gaining weight, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Velasquez was first bullied as a child in school for looking different and, later online, as a teenager when she discovered a YouTube video labeling her “The World’s Ugliest Woman.” The film chronicles unheard stories and details of Lizzie’s physical and emotional journey up to her multi-million viewed TEDx talk and follow her pursuit from a motivational speaker to Capitol Hill as she lobbies for the first federal anti-bullying bill.
Lizzie Velasquez Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of $100K-1M.
Lizzie Velasquez Twitter
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